Like the Tin Man in The Wizard Of Oz, the robot community has finally found its heart. This time around it's not made of sawdust-stuffed silk. Better -- sensors, cameras, microphones and proprietary algorithms that calculate human emotion according to vocal intonation and facial expressions. And soon it could be ambling around your home, asking if you feel alright, after it goes on sale in Japan from F span class "s1" ebruary 2015 for 198,000 yen ( 1,151.99). Pepper is a Wi-Fi enabled humanoid robot that weighs 28kg, features a 10.1-inch touchscreen and can move at speeds of up to 3km/h.

Say hello to Nadine, a "receptionist" at Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore). She is friendly, and will greet you back. Next time you meet her, she will remember your name and your previous conversation with her. She looks almost like a human being, with soft skin and flowing brunette hair. She smiles when greeting you, looks at you in the eye when talking, and can also shake hands with you.

The team, based in India, has created a messaging app used by millions of people. It relies on A.I. to help human agents provide personal assistance, a bit like Mezi or Lola. Interestingly, the folks behind this app learned a few lessons about what it takes to create an app when you don't have the development frameworks handy like we do in the U.S.: They had to create their own. One of the smart people behind the app is Akhil Aryan, in charge of "product and growth" at Haptik but who also writes about the chatbot field on occasion. He shared some insights with me in person at MobileBeat 2016.

South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has announced that it will start building a 3D map for use in designated areas by drone testers that will be finished within 2016. The 3D map will include precise information on space including obstacles, overcoming the limitation of 2D maps. Latitudes of topographies, humidity, temperature, and existences of power lines and cables will be included in the maps, the ministry said. Research and development to adapt a 3D grid system will be done concomitantly. Currently, certain air spaces in cities of Busan, Daegu, Jeonju, Yeongwol, and Goheung have been permitted for drone testing by operators approved by the government.

BEIJING--Wang Peixin has seen the future, and he's sure it features robots serving up fried dumplings. On a recent day, a white robot wearing a flowered kerchief rolled across Mr. Wang's Together Restaurant, a plate of pork-and-water-chestnut dumplings upon its built-in tray. As it traveled, it played an upbeat pop tune. A trio of customers hummed along and whipped out their phones to film its journey. "Young people like to pursue what's new, and robots are a fashionable, modern style of service," said Mr. Wang, who owns the Together Restaurant in central Beijing.

A few years ago, I started PredictionIO, an open source machine learning platform, with the mission to scale and simplify the development of machine learning technology. PredictionIO quickly grew in prominence and was even ranked on Github as the most popular Apache Spark-based machine learning product in the world. When Salesforce acquired PredictionIO in February, I was excited to have the amazing opportunity to continue to build our platform on a much larger scale. Today, I am thrilled to announce that Salesforce will donate the PredictionIO trademark to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) and by unanimous vote the platform has been accepted into the ASF incubator program. This demonstrates the open source community's recognition of the importance of the PredictionIO project.

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

BEIJING – Finance officials of major economies pledged Sunday to boost sluggish global growth but announced no joint initiatives and promised to defend against the shockwaves of Britain's vote to leave the European Union. In a joint statement after a two-day meeting, envoys of the Group of 20 also rejected trade protectionism, an issue that has risen in prominence as U.S. Republication presidential candidate Donald Trump has talked about restricting access to American markets. The United States, China, Britain, Germany and other governments at the meeting in Chengdu in western China pledged to use spending, monetary policy and regulatory reforms to strengthen growth. They promised to strengthen communication and cooperation but announced no joint action, as some financial traders had hoped. "We are taking action to boost confidence and promote growth," said the statement.

Boasting one of the most advanced rail networks in the world, Japan is investigating the use of artificial intelligence and a machine learning technology approach that would attempt to add what promoters call a "train time delay" function intended to provide riders with up-to-date route-planning information. Fujitsu Ltd. (TYO: 6702) said this week it has begun field trials in Japan for a delay time prediction engine developed with partner SRI International of Menlo Park, Calif. The trial also leverages a route-planning app developed by partner Jorudan Co. that claims about 10 million monthly users. The partners said the time delay engine learns from past train delay information. Updates on train delays are delivered as a cloud service.

No need to panic, but automation and artificial intelligence may already be playing a role in reducing IT hiring in India. According to Nasscom, an Indian IT industry association, fresh hiring in the current financial year is expected to decline compared to last year as IT companies face stiff margins, and move more jobs to automation. Campus hiring may fall for the first time since 2009. "Hiring activity in the year before last was 2.20 lakh (new jobs were created in IT sector). Last year there were about two lakh additions.